Paris conference addresses climate action in Pakistan

A conference began on Tuesday in Paris with stakeholders from Pakistan addressing their response to climate change ahead of the COP21 UN climate change talks in December.

The ‘Pakistan Sey Paris: on the Road to 2015 Paris Climate Conference’ has been organised by the French Embassy, the UN and the Pakistan government.

Non-governmental organisations including the WWF - Pakistan, the Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Pakistan, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have also participated.

French Ambassador to Pakistan Martine Dorance and Ambassador-designate of EU Jean-Francois Cautain inaugurated the conference. The two officials emphasised the importance of COP21, and highlighted their hopes for a positive outcome of the climate change negotiations.

Pakistan has not yet submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) report to the UN. All countries have been required to submit an INDC ahead of COP21, which outlines their intended efforts to lower the emission of greenhouse gasses.

Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, Pakistan’s additional chief secretary for energy, told the conference Pakistan could not rely upon a single energy source.

He stated that because flows of water in the major rivers of the country and solar and wind energy levels are varied throughout the year, coal remains the country’s only feasible energy option.

IUCN global vice president Malik Amin Aslam praised the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Plant project, and highlighted reforestation efforts made in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province.

MNA Maryam Aurangzeb, outlined task force created by the Pakistani government that will align climate change policies with the sustainable development goal framework.

Arif Ahmed Khan, secretary, Ministry of Climate Change, and Tasleem Aslam, representative of PM’s Adviser Tariq Fatemi, also spoke on the government’s commitment to the climate agenda.

Non-governmental panellists focussed on the impact climate change has already had on the country, and urged the Pakistani government to develop low emissions energy sources.

“The winters Pakistan have become colder and shorter. The pre-monsoon season has become hotter,” Dr Fahim Khokar, a National University of Science and Technology (NUST) assistant professor, said.

Dr Khokar went on to say solar energy was the ideal solution for the country power generation needs, as on average Pakistan has 300 days a year without cloud cover.

Danial Hashmi, Glacial Monitoring Research Centre project director, said two climate change studies conducted by his organisation showed that flow of water in western rivers had declined over time.

Other speakers urged the need to explore opportunities to gain funding for implementation of climate change adaptation projects.